The Line in the Sand
by Katamabob
Summary: “It was great meeting you, Scorpius – even if you do have a silly name.” - The friends and hardships of Scorpius Malfoy in Hogwarts - and the girl who always helped him. Scorpius/Lily - Rated T just in case
1. How Does It Feel

_Disclaimer: _It really isn't mine. Harry Potter belongs to the genius that is J.K. Rowling.

* * *

_"The line it is drawn,_

_The curse it is cast"_

Bob Dylan, 'The Times They Are A-Changin'

**How Does It Feel**

Dinner was a silent affair, which was not unusual under the circumstances.

The boy, just turned seven, focused on his dinner. He was small and skinny, and looked somewhat worried by large portion of of roast pork and potatoes in front of him. His parents knew that he often lacked an appetite, but with his grandparents here his eating habits might draw attention. He really didn't want that yet.

During these visits, the atmosphere was always tense. He didn't know why, but when his grandparents came to visit Father was always very serious, and Mother was tight-lipped and cold.

After a long period of silence, the boy hesitantly put down his knife and fork. The food was beginning to feel like lead in his stomach. His grandfather noticed.

"You can't be finished already? You'll never get any bigger if you don't eat what's put in front of you," he admonished.

The boy's mother put down her own silverware, slightly louder than necessary.

Father spoke quickly, cutting off his wife – who's expression had twisted somewhat.

"Scorpius just isn't very hungry," Father explained. "He gets nervous."

"Nervous! What does he have to be nervous about?" Grandfather said, looking a bit annoyed. "He's a Malfoy – he should be making others nervous."

"Yes, Lucius," Mother said in tones of ice. "Thank you for that. But Scorpius shall be fine. He's not hungry."

Scorpius looked down at his plate miserably. Should he try to eat more?

Lucius continued speaking, apparently unaware of his daughter-in-law's growing impatience.

"The boy will end a Hufflepuff at this rate –"

"Lucius!" Grandmother snapped, warningly. She placed a hand on his arm, and he stopped talking.

As soon as the meal was over, Mother stood up.

"Excuse me," she said, tersely. "I think it's time for Scorpius to go to bed."

"But Astoria, surely the House Elves-"

"The Elves may cook and clean, but _I_ shall be the one to raise my son. Come along, Scorpius."

As his mother tucked him in, Scorpius grabbed her hand.

"Mother? I'm sorry I-"

"Shhh," she said softly, smoothing back his blonde hair. "Don't apologise. No one was angry at you."

"Why do you hate Grandfather?" he asked, fiddling with her wedding ring.

"Lucius... well, first of all, I don't hate him. I never have. He just makes me a little angry."

"But why?"

"Well..." She sat down on the edge of the bed, and sighed. "Your grandfather did many things that were wrong for his family, wrong for your father. I love your father, but many of the things Lucius got him involved in harmed him, and made him a harder person. And now some of those choices may affect how people think of you. But I don't want them to, so I don't want Lucius to... influence the way you are brought up."

Scorpius nodded as though he understood. She knew he probably wouldn't until he started Hogwarts.

"What's a Hufflepuff?" he asked suddenly.

"Well, remember what your father and I told you about school? The school you'll go to when you're eleven? Well, there are four houses: Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, Slytherin and Gryffindor."

"Is Hufflepuff a bad house?"

"No, sweetie," she told him, smiling sadly. "There are worse houses. Your grandfather just doesn't seem to understand that."

"What house were you in?"

"Slytherin."

"Can I be a Slytherin too?"

Astoria looked down into his blue eyes – the only feature of hers that he'd inherited – and saw hope, and love, and the need to please her. Who knows what they would show after seven years of Slytherin house?

She shook her head, and kissed his cheek.

"You can be whatever you want to be."

* * *

_King's Cross – 4 years later_

Scorpius sat on his trunk beside a rubbish bin a little way from the ticket barrier, hiding from the crowd on the platform. His mother would probably be looking for him, but he needed to hide, for now. He had experienced the public's reaction to his family before, but never had it been directed at him personally, or with so much hatred.

He wiped away the tears on his cheeks. His father didn't like him crying in public.

"Are you OK?" asked a soft voice.

He looked up quickly. A little girl with red hair was sitting in front of him. She looked too small to be starting school, but he was really in no place to judge.

"I'm fine," he told her, quickly swiping his hand across his eyes again. This was not how his journey to Hogwarts was supposed to begin.

"Are you going to Hogwarts this year too?" he asked, trying to move away from Scorpius-centred conversation. This seemed to be the wrong thing to say, however, because she frowned.

"No, not for another two whole years." He noticed that her eyes were slightly red, and this made him feel less embarrassed. He wasn't the only one who'd been caught crying.

"You're only nine then?"

"Yeah," she said, sitting down next to him. "But it's not fair! I'll be ten in less than a month! And I have to wait two years."

"A brother or sister is going this year, yeah?"

"How did you know that?" she asked suspiciously.

He raised an eyebrow and smiled. "Why else would you be here?"

"Oh, right," she said sheepishly. "Yeah, my oldest brother is in second year, and Albus is going to be in first year. I'll be all alone at home."

"I wish I wasn't going," Scorpius said gloomily.

"Why would you wish that?"

He shrugged, preferring not to explain his family's background right now. After all, she almost seemed to like him at the moment.

"I'm Lily, by the way," she told him, and stuck out her hand. He grinned and shook it.

"Scorpius," he replied. He looked up at the clock and decided he needed to go back onto the platform and find his parents. "I have to go, now. Thanks for talking to me," he added nervously.

"No problem," she said, smiling brilliantly. "It was great meeting you, Scorpius – even if you do have a silly name." Her brown eyes twinkled mischievously and she grinned at him before racing off.

He smiled after her, feeling inexplicably better about the day. Someone here didn't hate him. He found himself wishing that she was coming with him, but perhaps it was best that she didn't find out who he was.

After another moment, he crossed back onto Platform 9 and ¾.

"Scorpius! There you are," his mother sighed in relief as he appeared behind her. "Here he is, Draco."

"Good, you don't want to miss the train," his father said. Someone hissed behind him, but Draco didn't even turn around. "Are you all set?"

Scorpius nodded.

They approached the train, but the a lot of the noise had died down. People were all looking at the family further down the platform. He could see a few redheads through the crowd and a black-haired man. Clinging on to the man's hand was Lily, her read hair slightly darker, but just as startling as those around her.

Scorpius saw his father nod in the man's direction. He tugged his father's sleeve.

"Who is that?" he asked.

"That's Harry Potter," his father answered, frowning.

Harry Potter? _The_ Harry Potter? The man who not only defeated the Dark Lord but who, Scorpius had heard, had spoken at Draco's trial, causing his sentence to be reduced to just six months. Did that mean Lily...?

"Who are the kids beside him? Are they his children?"

Draco shrugged. "Probably. I think the black-haired boy is, and the little girl beside him."

Lily Potter.

Scorpius and his father stood in silence for a few moments.

"Father," Scorpius said suddenly. "You and Mother were both in Slytherin, right?"

"Yes, you know that," Draco said, frowning.

"What house do you think I'll be in?"

The train whistle blew.

"Come on, Scorpius, get on!" said Draco, rushing him forward.

"What house, though?"

"Slytherin, of course. Don't worry about it."

Scorpius hugged his mother goodbye and his father patted him awkwardly on the shoulder.

"Will you write to me?" he asked his mother. His father sighed impatiently and frowned, causing Astoria to glare at him.

"Of course we will, darling."

As he climbed aboard the train, he heard his father make a comment about "learning to stand on his own two feet".

After he found an empty compartment and stowed away his trunk, Scorpius Malfoy pulled out a book and sat on a seat near the window. He could see his mother and father still on the platform, both looking straight ahead as the train slid away. But his mother's eyes kept flicking nervously from side to side. People were looking at them, muttering about them. Scorpius had heard people hissing as he made his way down the train. He could only hope that no one would bother him if he stayed here and read. If he chose a large enough book, maybe he could hide his distinctive Malfoy hair, as well as his features. As the train began to pull away he put his book back and looked in his bag for a larger one, but then the compartment door slid open.

"Hi!" said a cheerful voice. "Mind if we sit here? Almost everywhere else is full."

Scorpius looked up to see a boy smiling at him, with a girl standing behind him looking slightly horror-struck. He recognised the boy as Potter's son. Lily's brother. The girl he didn't know, but her red hair gave her away, somewhat. But why were they talking to him? Many had hissed at him and yelled at him already, and he would have expected the same treatment from them, if anyone.

"Uh... sure," he said.

"Thanks," Potter said, and began trying to put his trunk away above the seats. He seemed to be fighting a losing battle, so Scorpius helped him shove it the last few feet.

The girl was still frozen in the doorway, and seemed uncertain about coming in.

"Albus, can I talk to you for a second?" she asked. "Out here?"

"Okay," he said, clearly bemused. "We'll be right back," he added to Scorpius.

Scorpius tried to pay attention to his book, certain he didn't want to hear what they were saying. But the compartment doors really weren't very thick.

"What's up, Rose?"

"What's up? What's up? That's _Scorpius Malfoy_!"

"I know that!"

"Well, my dad said-"

"I heard your dad, but my dad said that-"

"Do you even know what his father and grandfather _were_? They tormented our parents! Almost got them killed! Or even expelled!"

"... You're being a bit stupid about this, Rosie. He didn't do that. It was his family."

"Well, I know, but... can he be trusted?"

"We're on the train, Rose. What can he do? It's not like he can betray us to a no-longer-existent Voldemort on the way to school. Lighten up."

They came back into the compartment then. Potter was smiling again.

"Sorry about that," he said cheerfully. "Don't think we introduced ourselves. I'm Albus Potter, and this is my cousin, Rose Weasley."

Scorpius was slightly unsure of how to proceed. On the one hand, his father had hated Harry Potter, and this boy had mentioned Scorpius's family history and the girl clearly disliked him. On the other hand, neither of them had openly insulted or mocked him, and Potter seemed perfectly willing to sit in the same compartment as him.

Mind made up, he stuck out his hand, as Lily had done earlier.

"Scorpius Malfoy," he said as he and Albus shook.

* * *

Scorpius Malfoy had been dreading this day, and that morning had been pure hell until his odd meeting with a little girl who didn't even know his last name yet. But the train journey was actually rather fun. At first Scorpius just read while Albus and Rose chatted, but when Rose pulled out a book, Albus demanded that no one – including Scorpius – was to read for the rest of the journey, lest he die of boredom. This caused Rose to protest, but Scorpius couldn't help but grin, and put away his book. The atmosphere lightened considerably after that and they spent a great deal of time talking and, surprisingly, joking. Scorpius found himself able to grin and laugh (admittedly somewhat nervously) more than he ever really had before, as he had always lacked close friends.

The two cousins had bought a lot of food off the trolley when it came around, and at Albus's insistence Scorpius took a chocolate frog. He really wasn't very hungry – he was still unable to eat when at all uneasy, and their destination terrified him. But as he talked, and as Rose's suspicions seemed to ease off, the knot in his stomach unclenched a certain amount.

"Here now, don't call me Potter," Albus protested at one stage, after a comment of Scorpius's. At first he was afraid that Albus had taken offense, but as he continued speaking Scorpius relaxed. "I always think about Harry Potter, wizarding legend, when people call me that – instead of just Harry, who's my dad. You can call me Albus, or Al if you prefer. Albus is a bit of a stuffy name, innit?"

Rose giggled. "It really is, when you think about it," she agreed. "Do you ever shorten your name?" she asked Scorpius suddenly.

"Uh, not really," he answered nervously. Rose had a very demanding way of asking questions. "What could you shorten it to? I always thought 'Scorp' would sound even worse, honestly."

"That's true," Al laughed. "How about... 'Scorpy'?"

"Good God, no!" exclaimed 'Scorpy', as Rose snorted.

"What about..." Both cousins seemed to think about it for a long while, before giving up – as Scorpius knew they would.

"Your name is silly," Al grumbled.

"Al, at least he doesn't have an old man's name," Rose reminded him.

"It's a tradition," Scorpius explained apologetically. "In the Black family everyone's always been named after constellations, as far as I know. Draco, Andromeda, Bellatrix..."

"Weird tradition."

"Yeah," sighed Scorpius. "I know."

"Well, there's nothing for it," said Albus solemnly. "We'll just have to come up with a silly nickname for you."

"Ooh!" said Rose, looking far too interested for Scorpius's liking. "How about..."

"You do realise," Scorpius interjected, "that if you give me a ridiculous nickname I can easily give you one, right?"

Rose grinned. "He's got us there, Al."

"Damn."

* * *

"Firs' years! Firs' years this way!" a loud voice boomed across the crowd of students, causing Scorpius to jump slightly. He cursed his unsteady nerves.

"What is that?" he asked Albus, eyeing the giant man's form in the darkness.

"What? Oh, that's Hagrid, the gamekeeper and Care of Magical Creatures teacher. He's really nice."

"How come he's so tall?"

Albus shrugged, clearly uninterested. He seemed to be thinking deeply.

Scorpius was practically trembling at this stage from fear and unease. His mother had always told him that she would be proud of him whatever house he was in, but he always got the impression that it mattered a great deal to her. And his father... well, his father didn't seem to think there was any question. But Scorpius didn't feel particularly cunning or ambitious. Though he liked to read, he didn't think he was very smart. And right now, he felt the complete opposite of brave. However, he was reasonably loyal, and pretty hard-working. Maybe Hufflepuff would be the house for him, despite his grandfather's scorn.

As they climbed into the boats, all three of them were silent, as was the fourth person, whose name Scorpius didn't know.

They had all avoided the subject of the Sorting while on the train, partly because it may be awkward because of their families' histories, and partly because they were all unsure of their place.

The castle was beautiful and majestic as it came into view, the clear, cold night showing perfectly the tall turrets and strong walls, lit by a perfect crescent moon. They arrived at the castle doors without anyone falling in, which Professor Hagrid informed them had caused problems in the past.

When they were led into the Great Hall, Scorpius was seriously considering making a run for it, if it wasn't for the fact that that would attract more attention to him. He knew that as soon as soon as his name was called out, the entire hall would know exactly who he was. The faces the tables looked somewhat impatient, but welcoming. He knew that would change.

What house did he _want_ to go to, anyway? The answer should be Slytherin, he knew. But many at their table looked like they recognised him already. And they weren't happy to see him.

Professor Longbottom, the deputy Headmaster, had already explained the purpose of the four Houses in the Entrance Hall, and now he came bearing the well-known Sorting Hat. He seemed to carry it deferentially, and placed it with care upon a three legged stool near the top of the hall.

Everyone in the hall stared at the hat expectantly. Even though Scorpius knew what was going to happen, he twitched when it began to sing, and he noticed Albus doing the same.

_Every year year for a thousand or more,_

_I've sang a brand new song,_

_Many say I'll soon run out,_

_Yet they couldn't be more wrong,_

_I sang for the founders when_

_This proud school was started,_

_And your lack or faith, it wounds, _

_And leaves me quite downhearted._

_The founders four entrusted me_

_To sort all you to come,_

_I have no other purpose,_

_So for a year I hum._

_I think up a snappy tune,_

_A melody unique,_

_Then add words and heart,_

_To tell you what I think_

_Of Ravenclaw, her wit renowned,_

_Forever striving to learn._

_Of Hufflepuff, her kindness,_

_Loyal, and working hard to earn._

_Gryffindor, brave of heart,_

_Protecting those in need._

_And Slytherin, whose cunning_

_Lived not to follow, but to lead._

_Gryffindor created me,_

_He whipped me off his head,_

_He gave me brains so I could think,_

_And sort in their stead._

_But Slytherin gave me insight,_

_Into your dreams and hopes,_

_Hufflepuff gave me compassion,_

_To know where you could cope,_

_But Ravenclaw, fairest of fair,_

_With her lyrical voice,_

_Gave me music, eternal,_

_To sing about their choice._

The applause was loud but brief, as Professor Longbottom unrolled a list of names.

"Abercrombie, Aaron," he called.

A boy stumbled over to the hat and put it on.

"GRYFFINDOR!" the hat announced after a few seconds, and the boy rushed over to the table on the far left, which erupted into applause.

The next few were 'SLYTHERIN', 'SLYTHERIN', 'RAVENCLAW', but Scorpius was no longer paying attention. His palms were sweaty and his face was flushed. He felt sure he was going to be sick.

"Are you all right?" Albus asked, beside him. Albus also looked incredibly nervous but, Scorpius thought somewhat venomously, the soon-to-be Gryffindor didn't look like he was going to faint any time soon.

"I'm fine," he muttered back shortly. Albus nodded, and continued dealing with his own terror.

Then, after 'MacDougal, Morgan' had been sorted into Gryffindor, came "Malfoy, Scorpius".

Whispers broke out in the Great Hall. When Scorpius didn't move, Albus nudged him, gently. He stepped quickly towards the hat, feeling like his legs might give out.

He picked up the hat and placed it on his head, and before the material covered his eyes he thought he saw even some of the teachers eyeing him with distrust. He was thankful when he could no longer see.

"Hmm," said a quiet voice in his ear, causing him to twitch. "Another Malfoy."

Scorpius squeezed his eyes shut, suddenly certain of his sentence. However, the hat continued to speak quietly.

"But not nearly as easy to place. Your father had his mind made up before he ever put me on, and you grandfather, well, he didn't take any suggestions of other houses with equanimity. But you... Hmm.

"You are intelligent, but do not care for learning without practical application. You work hard, but never without great incentive. You have a great desire to prove yourself, but lack the confidence to believe you ever could. You lack cunning of any sort – which is surprising.

"You are terrified of what I will say, you are terrified of you teachers, your classmates. You are scared of your father's disapproval. Yet here you are, and you are not pleading to be like the rest of your family, the most anonymous choice. This shows bravery that you did not know you possessed. You also seek to please everyone but yourself. I think I know where to put you..."

Before Scorpius could think to object, the Hat shouted to the Hall "GRYFFINDOR!"

In the horrendous silence that followed, Scorpius wished he could melt into the ground, turn invisible. The Hat was lifted off his head by a shocked-looking Professor Longbottom. Scorpius walked slowly, still in a daze, over to the Gryffindor table, which remained eerily silent. But then one boy began to clap, almost defiantly, and then a few others at the table – as if jerked out of their stupor – hesitantly applauded with him. Scorpius looked around for a seat, and the boy who had started the clapping shifted to make space. Relieved, Scorpius quickly sat down. His head was beginning to spin.

As the sorting resumed, the boy next to Scorpius clapped him on the back once before turning to watch. It suddenly occurred to Scorpius that he was almost entirely surrounded by a crowd of red-haired students. The boy who'd welcomed him had the darkest hair, but it was still very red. The others were a brilliant, fiery red.

"Potter, Albus."

Scorpius looked back at the line of first years. Albus made his way quickly to the hat. People seemed to pay almost as much attention as they had to Scorpius, but this time there were no hisses or insults.

There was a minute of silence.

"GRYFFINDOR!"

This time the table erupted with cheers, the red-heads around Scorpius causing by far the most noise. Scorpius joined in the clapping, glad that he knew someone in his house now. Albus ran over to the table, his grin large and silly with relief. He sat down across from Scorpius.

"Well done," Scorpius congratulated him.

"You too," he replied, his grin, if possible, widening. "I wasn't expecting us to be in the same house – it'll be nice to know someone in the dorm though."

Scorpius grinned back, suddenly feeling a lot calmer. He had at least one friend here.

"Pay attention, Al," the boy beside Scorpius whispered, as 'Pucey, Damon' was called.

'Weasley, Rose' was the last one to be sorted, and she joined them, after a long wait under the Hat, at the Gryffindor table.

As everyone quieted down, the Headmistress stood up.

"I would like to welcome all our new students, and welcome back our old," she said, smiling slightly. Her hair was iron grey and her face was worn and lined. But her emerald-green robes flowed around her upright and proud figure, and her eyes were keen as she surveyed her students. She was Professor McGonagall, who had taught his father at school – and had apparently disliked him.

"I know you have all had a long journey," she continued. "So I shall not delay your feast any longer. Enjoy."

She sat back down as food magically filled the plated in front of them.

The students all began talking and noise filled the large hall.

"Well done, Al," the boy next to Scorpius said, grinning. "Knew you had it in you."

Albus scowled at him. "Did you? Because this morning you said I was going into Slytherin."

"Oh come on! I was messing!"

Albus still looked annoyed, but he turned to Scorpius. "This is my brother, James," he explained, indicating the boy. "He's a second year. Oh, and don't believe a word he says - about anything."

"That's not fair!" James exclaimed. "I told you about the Sorting Hat, didn't I? When mum and dad wouldn't tell you?"

"Yeah, you did. But I must have missed the part where it went on fire to test my bravery. Maybe it forgot this time?"

"It must have," James agreed cheekily and turned to Scorpius. "Nice to meet you, Malfoy."

"You can call me Scorpius," Scorpius answered, nervous.

"Well, I would," James said, "except I'd probably end up chuckling about half way through. Tell me, is there a particular reason your parents did that you?"

"Shut up, James," said Al. Scorpius was looking even more embarrassed, so Albus quickly changed the subject. "Most of those with red hair at this table are my cousins, by the way. I'm the only one here with Weasley blood that doesn't have a head that looks like someone put a match to it."

"That's not true!" argued Rose, beside him. "Dominique and Louis both have blond hair. And mine is practically brown." It wasn't. It was red.

"You're not fooling anyone, Rosie," James told her. "Look on the bright side. At least we don't look like someone dropped a bucket of soot over our heads, eh?"

"Or look like someone attacked you with bleach," Al added, smirking at Scorpius.

"Thanks, Al," Scorpius said sarcastically. "But I'd rather have the bleach than the sooty-look any day."

The banter continued, mainly between the Potters with an occasional Weasley interjection – Scorpius mainly only spoke when he was directly asked something, but as the night progressed he found himself speaking more and more. He ate as they spoke, not noticing that he was actually quite hungry, and ate quite a large dinner.

When the pudding arrived, Scorpius joined in a brief scuffle for a chocolate cake. He lost, inevitably, being rather small, but enjoyed his trifle all the same. As they ate, Albus began pointing out people he knew in Gryffindor, with James helping him out.

"That's Victoire, she's in seventh year. That's her sister, Dominique, over at the other end of the table – they don't really get along... there's Louis, their brother, he generally tries to stay out of it. He's in James' year. Nice guy, rather quiet – for a Weasley.

"That's Molly – she's a prefect. She'll help you with your homework if you ask, but you won't escape a really _long_ lecture."

"Then there's our cousin Fred. He's just over there," James said, pointing at a boy just a few seats away. "He'd sit with us, normally, but for some reason he chose to sit with Sarah today." James grinned. "Sometimes I wonder about his priorities."

"How many cousins do you have?" asked Scorpius in amazement.

James shrugged. "I don't know. Eight, nine? About that. And then there's Lucy, Roxie, Hugo and Lily, our sister, who haven't even come yet." He grinned. "But don't worry. Victoire'll be gone next year, so the legion will be one less."

"Yeah," said Al, "but then Dominique will rule the roost. And I don't think that'll be much fun..."

James shuddered theatrically. "Yeah, you're right. That'll be horrible. There may not be any survivors..."

"Your brother seems nice," Scorpius commented to Albus as they followed Prefect Molly Weasley to the Gryffindor Common Room.

Albus shrugged. "He's all right. A bit cocky, and you should never bother trying to be serious about anything with him. Oh, and if you ever start joking with him, he'll probably turn it all around on you. He annoys me so much... But he's OK if you want a laugh, and if anyone other than him gave me a hard time I'm pretty sure he'd help me out."

After they got to a portrait of a fat woman in a pink dress, the prefect told them the password, 'Oddment'.

Scorpius had been told that the Slytherin common room was below the lake, in the dungeons. Steeped in history and grandeur, his father said. His mother had told him it was dark and cold and a little spooky. He wondered, now, if she had been trying to tell him something.

His first impression of Gryffindor tower was one of warmth, and light. Everything was decorated in bright, rich colours, and the large room was full of big, stuffy armchairs that looked incredibly comfortable, and made the room seem cluttered and cosy.

Any further examinations of Gryffindor life were put on hold as Scorpius and Al dragged themselves upstairs into their new dormitory that they shared with three other boys.

Scorpius fell asleep within minutes.

* * *

**_A/N:_** Please tell me what you thought, good or bad. I strive to learn. :)

This is a fic about the friendships and hardships of Scorpius Malfoy, and the girl who helps him along the way. I do not know how long it will be, but I hope you'll like it.


	2. To Be On Your Own

**To Be On Your Own**

How does it feel

To be on your own

With no direction home

Like a complete unknown

Like a rolling stone

_Bob Dylan, 'Like a Rolling Stone'_

_Lily_

The boy had looked so alone, so sad. Yet all she had to do was talk to him, laugh at him, and he smiled. She loved that. Her dad told her she had a talent for cheering people up. All she knew was that when someone was sad it was just... obvious. When they were happy, you could just tell.

She only wished she could cheer herself up. It had been nice to make someone smile, and to talk to someone about her problems – but it wasn't enough. She would be alone for two whole years, practically.

After she left the boy – Scorpius, he said his name was. Funny – she found her family and re-attached herself to her father's arm.

"Hey, Lil," he said, turning to her in surprise. "Where did you run off to?"

"Nowhere," she said.

They went through the barrier and onto the platform. She felt her eyes tear up again as James rushed off excitedly to find his friends. The scarlet steam engine looked magnificent, magical almost. It was the gateway to Hogwarts, in her mind.

"It won't be long," her dad told her, seeing her longing gaze, "and you'll be going too."

"Two years," she replied. Dad didn't seem to get how _long_ that was. "I want to go _now_."

Rose and Hugo showed up soon, and Lily was glad to have company. She had always got on well with Rose, they had been good friends – but Rose was going with Albus. Hugo, though not her best friend, she could talk to about how great it would be when they went, what houses they would be in and how much fun they could have at home without their older siblings to watch them. They both knew that it would probably be pretty boring with just them, but they could pretend. For now.

Lily and Hugo both looked up from their... well, they called it planning, others referred to it as 'scheming' – a common pastime for most Weasley children – when they noticed all the grown-ups staring at another family further down the platform.

"So that's little Scorpius," Uncle Ron said quietly. "Make sure you beat him in every test, Rosie. Thank God you inherited your mother's brains."

"Ron, for heavens sake," scolded Aunt Hermione, frowning slightly. "Don't try to turn them against each other before they've even started school."

The family was small – just a man and his wife with their son. Scorpius. It was the same boy. Why didn't Uncle Ron like him? He mentioned something about him being pure-blood, but so was most of the Weasley family. _She_ was mostly pure-blood.

Other families seemed to have the same reaction, if not worse. She saw people sneering, people spitting as they passed. She saw Scorpius flinch when someone said something to his father. No wonder he had been crying...

She was distracted when James ran up.

"Hey!" he said, out of breath. "Teddy's back there!"

As he told them about Teddy snogging Victoire, their eldest cousin, Lily's imagination went into overdrive, and Scorpius was forgotten, for now.

"Oh, it would be lovely if they got married," she said in delight. "Teddy would _really_ be part of the family then!"

She ignored Hugo, who was making gagging noises beside her, and continued fantasising about weddings and Teddy. They would live happily ever after, she decided. It would be better if he was a prince of some kind, or Victoire a princess, but the idea of the orphan boy finding love with one of his oldest friends and joining a family that had long been _practically_ his own was a great story on its own.

She said goodbye to Albus before he boarded the train. James had already gone, but he'd taken her to the shops yesterday, bought her an ice-cream, and played hide-and-seek with her. He'd even let her win. She knew that that was just what he did. He always wrote to her, every week, last year. But he never talked about it, usually teased her when he was around. But they were close, always had been.

Rose said that she'd write as often as she could, to both Lily and Hugo. If Al kept _his_ promises – which was a little unlikely – then she'd be getting a lot of mail.

She cried again, when the train pulled away. Hugo was looking a bit upset, but seemed highly uncomfortable when she hugged him. He patted her on the back, and told her to please get off him. She found that funny, and clung tighter as he edged away in embarrassment.

* * *

It wasn't until after dinner, at seven, that she thought of Scorpius again.

"Dad?" she said, pulling down the top of his newspaper.

"What is it, Lily?" he asked, pulling his eyes away from an article and refocusing on her. "Is something the matter?"

"No, not really." She sat down on a footstool beside his chair, her back to the fire. "I was just wondering... who is Scorpius?"

Harry looked surprised. "Why do you ask?"

"Well, you and Uncle Ron mentioned him today..." She chose not to mention her own conversation yet.

"Ah, yes." Harry looked uncomfortable. "What did you want to know?"

"Who is he? Why doesn't Uncle Ron like him?"

"Well, first of all, your Uncle Ron doesn't dislike Scorpius. You see, his father, Draco Malfoy, was... well, he wasn't our friend when we were at school together. He's also done some, well, bad things. I'd like to think he's making amends now, but Ron... Ron thinks I'm being naïve." Harry smiled ruefully.

Lily was confused. "But why do people not like Scorpius?"

Harry paused, and then sighed. "Some people... Do you remember what I told you about the bad man, who killed my parents?"

"Yes. Vol- uh... Voldemorp?"

"No. Voldemort. But pretty, er... pretty close. Yeah. Him. Well, the Malfoy family...they worked for him, years ago. And many people remember that, and cannot forgive. I can't say that I don't see why. But some people seem to confuse the father with the son. Which, I think, is wrong. Scorpius has done nothing. But he looks very like his father."

Lily frowned. "So, Scorpius' father is evil?"

"Er... that wording is a little strong. Probably not. His grandfather, though, is rather nasty, yeah."

"But Scorpius didn't do anything?"

"No, of course not. He's just an eleven year old boy."

"Oh, OK. Thanks, Dad." She stood up, and kissed his cheek, before moving towards the door.

"Wait, Lily," he said. "Why do you ask?"

She hesitated. "Well, I saw him before we went onto the platform. He was hiding. He looked... sad. And then Uncle Ron..."

Harry smiled. "You thought he was being unfair. I understand. But Uncle Ron, while being a little... vocal about the whole thing, wouldn't do or say anything to the boy. He's a good man, with kids of his own."

"Thanks, Dad."

He smiled at her, and went back to his paper.

* * *

A/N: I know this is short, but ending it here just felt... right. The next chapter will be longer, I promise ^_^

Thanks to all those who reviewed! You all made me incredibly happy, and I really appreciate it. Hope you like this chapter.

Please review, whether you loved it, hated it, or have suggestions for improvements. I'm here to learn! ;)


	3. Far Away From Home

**Away From Home**

And your voice on the phone is like one of those paintings

Where everything loses it's shape

And the girl across the street, she's as light on her feet

As sunlight, bouncing off comb

And I'm sad, sad, sad, sad

And far away from home

_Peter Mulvey, 'Sad, Sad, Sad (And Far Away From Home)'_

**-**

The first day passed in a blur. In between the stares, the whispers and the insults, Scorpius was constantly in hostile territory.

They came down to breakfast early that morning. Scorpius had tried to leave before the others got up, but Al had stopped him.

"Might as well get it over with," he advised. "You're gonna have to meet them eventually, right?"

The introductions between the boys in the dormitory had been awkward, especially when Colin asked if Al was really the son of the famous Harry Potter, and then if Scorpius was the son of Death Eater Draco Malfoy. Scorpius glared, first at Colin, and then at Al.

"See?" he said angrily, and quickly left the room.

As Scorpius stormed down the stairs, he fumed. He never got angry, he always got nervous – but he could feel the loneliness welling up. He was far away from home, and everyone hated him. Al had been nice on the train, but would he really care to stay with him in face of all that hatred? Why would he? And now Scorpius had possibly killed that friendship, if that's what it had been. He knew that Al had probably talked to him out of pity, but now he probably didn't even have that.

"Morning, Scorpius," said Rose. She was in the common room, reading in one of the empty chairs. He jumped at the sound of her voice. The room was empty except for her.

"Why are you up already?" he asked.

"I couldn't sleep," she explained. "I was too excited – or nervous!"

"What do you have to be nervous about?" he asked, curious.

"Everything! What if I don't know enough? What if I don't get good grades? What if I fail, despite everyone's expectations?"

"That probably won't happen," Scorpius smiled. He could feel himself relaxing. He wasn't the only one worrying, even if his demons were a hell of a lot scarier. "You seem to read a lot. I doubt you know less than anyone else."

"We'll see," she said sceptically. "Where's Al?"

Albus clattered down the stairs at that moment, still tying his school tie.

"Oh, good. You're still here," he panted upon seeing Scorpius. "Sorry about that. But seriously, you were going to have to talk to them eventually. Colin says he's sorry, by the way. He's just a bit... over-eager. He said to tell you he didn't mean anything by it."

Scorpius nodded, stiffly. His anger had gone. Whatever about Al's motives, so far he had done nothing but be nice.

"Are you as nervous as we are?" he asked, indicating himself and Rose, and smiled. Al grinned back weakly.

"Terrified."

-

The Great Hall was mostly empty when they arrived down, but it soon filled up. James came down with Fred Weasley and moved towards the first years.

"Hey, Al, Rose. Malfoy, this is our cousin, Fred."

Fred Weasley was slightly taller than James, and stockily built. His hair was practically a beacon declaring his family name. He frowned slightly.

"Malfoy? Draco Malfoy's son?" he asked suspiciously.

Oblivious to the sudden tension – or just plain ignoring it – James nodded cheerfully. "The very same. This is our own Scorpius Malfoy, destined for a life of crime. He's incredibly fiendish. We're already his loyal followers, converted to the Dark Side."

Albus and Rose looked at James in horror before glancing nervously at Scorpius. Fred, however, burst out laughing, and Scorpius smiled uneasily at the others. They grinned back at him, relieved.

"Well, we gotta go. We might want to talk to someone our own height for a change. See you later, Al!" The second years left.

The whispers followed Scorpius all day. People turned and glared as he walked by. Hisses rang out and some older students, many from his own house, tried to trip him in the corridors.

"Watch it!" yelled Albus as Scorpius was knocked down on the way to Transfiguration. The little black-haired boy glared at the fifth year who had shoved Scorpius, looking comically small in comparison to the hulking figure. The fifth year just smirked, and walked away.

"Are you all right?" asked Rose as Scorpius climbed to his feet. He shrugged and continued on to class.

* * *

_Mum and Dad,_ Albus wrote.

_I got into Gryffindor!! Rose too! And the castle is HUGE. Much bigger than I thought it would be!_

_Rose is demanding that we go to the library later and take a look. I don't really see why – a library's a library, isn't it? But don't tell Aunt Hermione I said that, please._

_The train journey was great, although we were all so nervous. We sat with _

Albus paused. He didn't want to make a big deal out of the fact that he and Scorpius were getting along well, but his father knew, that he knew, who Scorpius was. He sighed, and continued.

… _with Scorpius Malfoy, who turned out to be pretty friendly. We had a great time. And guess what? He's now in Gryffindor! You should have seen Professor Longbottom's face! He was so surprised._

_I survived the trip across the lake without the giant squid attacking, and the Sorting Hat didn't catch fire while I was wearing it. You were right, James was lying._

_Love you, hope Lily's OK,_

_Al_.

He didn't mention the brush-ins with the older students. Or their disastrous first Potions lesson.

-

Potions began without incident. The professor either didn't know, or didn't care who Scorpius Malfoy was, or what his family had done. He was a balding man, tall and thin, with round glasses and a bored expression. His name was Professor Borage, and he was a well-known Potions Master. Unfortunately, he was less adept at keeping his class in line than he was at potion-making.

Gryffindors shared their Potions class with the Slytherins, as was traditional. And the Slytherins were less than enthusiastic about sharing a class with a 'traitor'.

"Oi! Potter!" hissed one of the Slytherin boys, ten minutes into the class. The professor was busy explaining classroom safety, oblivious to lack of attention. "Potter!"

"What?" Al hissed back, annoyed.

"Want to switch lab partners?" the boy grinned, indicating Scorpius, beside Al. "You don't want _that _sitting next to you, do you?"

"Shut up, Pucey," said Rose, behind them.

A Gryffindor girl, Morgan, loudly whispered to her friend, "It would be nice if we _could_ hand him over!" and the other girl giggled. Scorpius turned red and moved down in his chair.

Albus turned in his chair to glare at Morgan, and she widened her eyes innocently, as if to say 'who, me?'

For the rest of the lesson Pucey and the other Slytherins, who all seemed to be finding the animosity within Gryffindor house highly amusing, tossed some of their ingredients – mainly the smallest and most disgusting – over at Scorpius, with Al occasionally being hit by someone with bad aim. The professor was writing on the board most of the time, and whenever he turned around, his students would sit up straight and look politely interested.

Scorpius just ignored them, although his face was red and he looked upset. He just sank lower in his chair and tried to pay attention, the side of his robes looking more and more like they'd been exposed to a whirlwind that had gone by a compost heap. He only reacted when he moved to swipe something out of his hair.

Albus, however, was glancing furiously at the Slytherins and making noises of irritation as they suppressed their laughter. He huffed angrily every time something hit Scorpius, and those around him occasionally heard muttered swearwords, obviously picked up from one of his older cousins.

"How can you just sit there?" Albus hissed eventually. "Are you just going to let them do that to you?"

Scorpius shrugged and kept his eyes down, answering Al with his silence.

The next ingredient hurled – and Scorpius really didn't want to even _think_ about what it was – hit the back of his head, some of it spattering Albus. Al quickly stood up, scowling, and grabbing a fist full of beetles from his desk, threw them at Pucey, hitting him in the face.

Rose gasped in horror behind them, and some of the other Gryffindors muffled laughter at the sight of Pucey hurriedly ridding himself of beetles.

"Mr Potter!" exclaimed the professor in shock. "Have you been throwing Potions ingredients?"

Albus began to protest, but his actions had been less than subtle.

"Ten points from Gryffindor, and detention with me tonight." Borage sniffed disparagingly. "I have to say that I didn't expect any better, after your brother – but I did hope, Mr Potter."

Albus looked furious after class, gathering up his books quickly and storming out. Rose hurried after him, while Scorpius followed more slowly, trying half-heartedly to tidy his robes.

-

"I can't believe it!" Al was still muttering angrily half an hour later. "Detention! On my first day! Mum's going to _kill_ me..."

"I might kill you," interrupted Rose casually, sitting down for lunch.

"What?"

"Just shut up, Al," she sighed.

Scorpius was sitting opposite them, just shifting food around his plate.

"What? It was _so_ unfair!" complained Al. "They were throwing stuff at us for _ages_, and-"

"Didn't get caught," finished Rose.

"Ooh, I'll get them for this..." said Al, grimacing. "You want to help, Scorp?

Scorpius looked up. "I thought we all said that 'Scorp' was off the table," he said uncertainly.

"Well, yeah – it does sound stupid. But in fairness, now: _Scorpius_ is impossible to work with! So what do you say?"

"Er... to the name 'Scorp'?"

Al sighed impatiently. "No, to payback!"

Scorpius frowned and shook his head fervently. "I don't think so..."

"Why not?"

"It'll only make it worse – just forget it."

"You'll really let them get away with that?" Albus said indignantly. "They were throwing stuff at us! Really disgusting things, too. I do not want to know what that slimy thing I found in my hair was..." He shuddered theatrically.

Scorpius just shook his head.

"I agree with Scorpius," Rose said. "You can't just take the law into your own hands like that. Tell a teacher, maybe."

Neither Albus nor Scorpius looked happy with this idea.

"No."

"No."

"Fine," she said huffily. "But you'll get into trouble Al – and Scorpius, you'll probably need to do _something_ to stop this."

"Can we please stop talking about it?" asked Scorpius, pushing his plate away. "I need to go to the library, I'll see you later."

_Dear Mum, Dad and Hugo,_ wrote Rose, that evening.

_I got into Gryffindor! I was incredibly relieved – I didn't feel even a little bit brave._

_All my classes were excellent so far, I've learned a lot already. I was a bit worried that I wouldn't have read enough, but so far I'm even a bit ahead of everyone else! I know you said I would be, Dad, but using Al as an example was a bad idea – of course I know more than Al!_

_In Potions we learned about all the different ingredients we will be using and their magical (and non-magical) properties. It was fascinating, but -_

She paused, briefly.

_- but some kids were messing, which was a bit annoying. The teacher doesn't really pay attention._

_I love you all! Al says 'hi'._

_Rose_

Potions had been bad, but Herbology wasn't fun either. No one taunted him in that class – even if he did earn himself a fair amount of glares – but the teacher seemed... a bit cold towards him. Many of the teachers paused when they arrived at the name 'Malfoy'. Most continued on after that brief pause, but Professor Longbottom, when he read out the name, looked up. He stared blankly at Scorpius for a long minute before turning back to his list of names. After that the professor seemed determined not to look at him any longer than necessary, and when he did his eyes were hard. There was no proof of anger or hatred other than that and... a feeling. Professor Longbottom seemed like he was trying to forgive and forget a wrong that Scorpius had inflicted – which was odd, as he'd never met the professor before he came to Hogwarts.

And what was a little intimidating was that this man was his Head of House. If he had any problems, he was the man Scorpius was supposed to go to. It may be a problem...

* * *

_Mother,_

_I arrived fine. The school is larger than I expected, but a lot darker and colder than home. I made a few friends, and haven't had any real trouble._

_I hope everything is all right at home, and that Father is well._

_I was sorted into Gryffindor. Please tell him that I'm sorry._

_Miss you,_

_Scorpius_

_

* * *

  
_

_Lily!!_

_Guess what? Albus is in detention tonight! His very first day! I couldn't be prouder, although I'm feeling a little upstaged, here. I mean, I haven't lost a single point yet. I need to get to work on that. Any ideas? Thoughts? Diabolical schemes? Do tell._

_From what I hear – although Al is mostly ranting and raving, you know how he is – Al's new friend (one Scorpius Malfoy, by the way) was getting a bit of grief in Potions and some Slytherin brat was throwing ingredients. Al, being Al, managed to retaliate _while the teacher was facing him!!_ Amateur! I appreciate the sentiments behind it, but our dear brother is obviously an idiot. You wouldn't do anything like that, right? Of course not, I've trained you too well. All you'd need to do is stare up at them and say 'but I didn't_ mean _it' and you'll be free as a bird._

_I wish I could do that. It would make things so much easier... I tried once, on this girl Ella – that did NOT end well._

_Never mind. Another story for another time._

_I hope you and Hugo have managed to tear the house down by now, and tell Mum and Dad that I said hi. But do NOT show this to them. The Potions 'incident' is a little hush-hush, I'm told._

_Bye Lils,_

_James_

_

* * *

  
_

They all went to bed that night with mixed feelings about the day's events (and Albus still sore from scrubbing the burnt sludge out of cauldrons). But none of them had any hopes of things getting much better without intervention. And at least two of them were beginning to Scheme.

It always was, as mentioned previously, a favourite past-time of Weasleys. They had become good at it.

* * *

**A/N:** Hope you liked this chapter. So far I'm keeping up with my writing, so it shouldn't be too long until the next installment. Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed! It makes my day!

Please review this: I really need feedback to know if there's anything I can improve. I want to get better :) Even just review to tell me if you did or did not like it. That way I know if I'm doing something right or not!


	4. Mothers and Fathers

**Mothers and Fathers**

Come mothers and fathers throughout the land

And don't criticise what you can't understand

Your sons and your daughters are beyond your command

Your old road is rapidly fading

_Bob Dylan, 'The Times They Are A-Changin''_

-

"Have you heard from Rose?"

"Oh, yes. She's written twice already," Hermione said, setting tea down in front of him.

Harry fiddled with his spoon and, keeping his eyes fixed on it, said "And did she tell you if she'd made any new friends?"

"Well... no, she didn't mention it," said Ron, sitting down at their kitchen table, opposite Harry. "But she mostly talks about her classes anyway. Like her mother," he added, fondly, glancing over at his wife and grinning.

Hermione was looking slightly worried, however. "Why? Do you think she's not getting on well with the other students?" The last thing she wanted, Harry knew, was for her daughter to have a similar first few weeks to her own – alone and friendless.

"No, no," Harry quickly reassured. "Don't worry about that – she has Al, after all." Hermione relaxed slightly. "It's just that... well, I was told that they made a new... acquaintance."

"Who?"

"Scorpius Malfoy."

"Oh." Hermione looked amazed. "Really?"

"What?" said Ron, brow furrowing.

Harry nodded.

"And... you're worried about this, are you?" asked Hermione, hesitantly.

"Are you not?"

"_I_ am," said Ron, looking incredulously at his wife.

"I don't know," she answered uneasily. "I can't say I'm delighted by the idea of Malfoy's son near my daughter..."

"I hate it," said Ron firmly. "I know Malfoy, and I don't trust him – and who knows how his son's been brought up!"

"Yes..." said Hermione hesitantly. "But Harry, weren't you the one who said we should do our best to gain that family some tolerance? They've been treated very badly since the war..."

"I know, I know," he answered guiltily. "The boy's only eleven, and he's done nothing wrong--"

"That we know of," muttered Ron, earning a glare from Hermione.

Harry nodded before continuing. "But my instincts tell me to never trust a Malfoy."

"I thought you _did_ trust Draco?"

"I gave him the benefit of the doubt. It's not the same thing." Harry rubbed his eyes tiredly as he spoke. "I feel like such a fraud, though. I tell my children not to judge people by their families and then I go and do it myself."

"We all do, mate," said Ron, sympathetically. "Every time I tell Hugo not to swear – I mean, _I _do it all the time, if not while he's there. But we all want our kids to be better than us, without our faults." He smiled, wryly. "I'm finding it a bit tricky."

"Lily asked me about him, y'know," Harry said, gloomily, only half listening. "The day they left."

"About who?" asked Ron, momentarily confused.

"Scorpius Malfoy! She heard you and me talking about him at King's Cross," Harry said. "Asked me why you hated the kid. How in Merlin's name do you explain to a nine-year-old that, while Draco Malfoy has a questionable sense of morality, it doesn't add up to evil? And that her elders have trouble not associating the child with the father? And telling her that it's _wrong _to do that! While you yourself are completely guilty of it!"

"Calm down, Harry!" said Hermione sharply. "It's not the end of the world. Why did she ask you about him? Does she even know who he is?"

"She says she saw him 'looking sad' before we went onto the platform." He smiled slightly. "She always did stand up for the underdog."

"Oh," said Hermione. "Poor boy – you saw how everyone was acting towards them. I suppose I never really thought about how Scorpius might take it."

"It's weird thinking of a Malfoy as a victim," said Ron. "Especially when he looks _just_ like his father."

"Yeah, I know what you mean," said Harry, staring morosely into his mug. "But what do you think we should do?"

Hermione shrugged. "What _can_ we do? They have to make their own decisions, just as we always did. If they're mistakes, then maybe they'll make better decisions next time. But for now..." She sighed. "It sounds like that boy might need all the friends he can get."

"I suppose you're right," Harry agreed wearily.

"Yeah, when isn't she?" said Ron, half admiring, half exasperated. "But that doesn't mean I have to like this. And if he goes _anywhere_ near my daughter..."

"Ron! Let's take this one step at a time, shall we?" Hermione admonished, but Harry silently agreed. But they'd have to wait and see...

* * *

-

Astoria looked at the letter in her hands. It had been burning a whole in her pocket for days now, and she'd been wondering how to bring it up to Draco. What would she tell him?

The truth, of course. She admonished herself for even thinking otherwise. Draco deserved to know about his son, especially before he heard the news from somewhere else. But how to tell him? And how would he take it?

Hands trembling slightly, she knocked on his study door.

"Come in," he called.

"It's me," she said, poking her head around the door. "Are you busy? I have something I need to talk to you about."

"Of course, sit down," he said, looking up from some paperwork. "What is it?"

She sat down opposite him. She twisted the letter nervously in her hands.

"Is something wrong?" he asked, looking concerned. She smiled timidly at him.

"No," she answered. "Not at all, really. It's just that... well..."

He frowned. "Are you sure there's nothing wrong?"

"Well, _I _don't think there is," she said. "But well – it's about Scorpius."

Draco's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Why? Has he gotten into trouble already?"

"Oh! No, nothing like that. He's a good boy," she added, somewhat reproachfully.

"I know that, Astoria. But, frankly, I know that I would have had difficulty keeping my temper with all the things people say to us." He ran a hand through his thinning blond hair and sighed, deeply. "I wouldn't really blame him – but you know he can't do anything, because then people will say he's aggressive; because he's a Malfoy."

"I know that, Draco," she reassured. "And Scorpius does nothing, you know that."

"Yes," Draco said, "but I don't think he would even if he could – he'd never stand up for himself."

"What are you saying?" Astoria exclaimed, shocked. "All his life we've told him that he mustn't fight back, that he must be careful, that people will always seek to ruin him – and now you're saying you wish he had more backbone?"

"Well, yes!" said Draco, frustrated now. "The boy's a nervous wreck! He won't stand up for himself, and people will walk all over him! There's a difference between revenge, and prevention. He doesn't need fear, but he could do with a little respect. Or at least some self-respect."

Astoria glared. She had come with good intentions, with plans of breaking the news gently, but she could feel herself getting riled up now. She loved her husband, she always had. She wanted him to be happy, never sought to upset him – but no one insulted her son, not even his father.

"Well," she said, "maybe he won't stand up for himself, but perhaps he would if you made him feel worthy of respect! And I think you underestimate him. He may not respect himself, but he does respect this family, and he respects your wishes. Maybe you should have decided sooner what those wishes were to be!"

"It's not up to me to create a person!" Draco protested, standing up and crossing his arms defensively. "If he really wants to survive Slytherin house, then he'll need to be gain their respect."

Astoria knew that she would probably regret doing it like this later, but anger and something like triumph were pumping through her veins.

"Well, it's a good thing he's not in Slytherin then!" she announced, somewhat smugly.

In the silence that followed, she could feel her certainty begin to drain away. She didn't mind his anger, not really. But what if he took it out on Scorpius?

"What?" Draco said eventually.

"Scorpius wasn't put in Slytherin," she repeated, nervously.

"He didn't get in?"

"No, he was chosen for somewhere else," she re-stated, firmly. She was convinced that he had been honoured, not rejected.

Draco snorted. "Well, it's the same thing isn't it?"

"No," she answered coldly. "It really isn't."

He ignored her. "Ravenclaw, then, I suppose?"

"No."

"He didn't at least get into Ravenclaw? And here I thought all those books were actually going to do some good."

She gritted her teeth and didn't say anything. Draco was surprised, she told herself. He doesn't mean it.

"Lucius is going to kill me," Draco muttered. "A Hufflepuff for a son – ha! He always said it was going to happen."

"I really couldn't care less about what Lucius thinks about it," she said angrily. "It's our son's choice. He is where he belongs and I am convinced it's for the best!"

"For the best, Astoria?" said Draco, mockingly. "What Hufflepuff has ever amounted to anything?"

"I have no idea – but I know plenty of Gryffindors who have!"

. . .

"Wait, what? Who said anything about Gryffindors?"

"_I_ did! Scorpius was sorted into Gryffindor!"

There was a thick and tense silence before Draco sat down heavily. "Lucius is really going to kill me now. How is this even possible?"

"Well maybe Scorpius has more backbone than you thought!" she snapped.

When the silence persisted, with Draco staring into space, Astoria sighed and went to stand beside his chair. She placed a hand on his arm.

"Whatever Lucius thinks," she told him, "I believe that this is a good thing. It certainly can't do our reputation any harm to have a Gryffindor son. He will perhaps earn acceptance – and I think Slytherin would have killed every bit of good in him."

"Maybe you're right," he said, taking her hand absently-mindedly. "But I really hope that the Gryffindors don't eat him alive. They certainly don't like our family."

She shrugged. "Who does? All I ask is that they like Scorpius."

* * *

A/N: Thanks to everyone who reviewed! And to everyone who added it to their favourites list or story alerts - but I would appreciate it if you could take, what - two minutes? out of your time and leave a review, it makes my day that much brighter!

On another note, I think I would benefit (as would this story) from having a Beta reader, something I've never had before. Is anyone reading this story a beta? Would anyone be willing to beta it? Do you know a very good beta you could recommend? I think my grammar and spelling is mostly OK, although I wouldn't object to a proof-read to get rid of typos, but my main concern is characterisation and dialogue. Anyone particularly experienced at either or both would be a God-send.

Thanks for reading, I hope you liked it! Getting back to the younger generation next chapter, hope you don't mind these little interludes.

Don't forget to review!

Kate


	5. Let In Light

**Let in Light**

It's Christmas time

There's no need to be afraid

At Christmas time

We let in light and we banish shade

_Bob Geldof, 'Do They Know It's Christmas'_

-

"Mum! Dad!"

Albus saw his parents turn towards them as James yelled. The next second, a little girl threw herself at them and hugged them tightly.

"You're home! You're home!" she sang.

"Hi, Lily," laughed James. "My, have you gotten shorter?"

She hit her brother, giggling, and gave Al a punch as well, for good measure.

Albus hugged his parents quickly, but then pulled away and looked around. James smirked at him.

"The house was awfully quiet without either of you around," Ginny remarked as they made their way towards the car. "Lily and Hugo made the effort, but it still wasn't the same level of mayhem caused by you two."

"I really did try," Lily assured them, smiling hugely.

"And that's all anyone can ask," said James mockingly as he ruffled her hair.

Lily chattered happily about some of the things she and Hugo had got up to, while Al glanced back at the train. Scorpius' mother had come to meet him, and already they were rushing away from the platform. People were glaring as they passed, and Scorpius' head was bowed.

On the way home, Albus talked about classes and what he and Rose had spent their time doing, as well as frequent mentions of Scorpius Malfoy. Lily listened in fascination, occasionally – or constantly – peppering her second brother with questions.

"How were you sorted?"

"Were you scared?"

"Is the castle as big as they said?"

"Did you cross the lake?"

"Were people nice?"

"Is Professor McGonagall scary?"

"Did you get into any trouble?"

Albus answered most questions, and evaded several, but this didn't bother Lily. She just asked new questions.

By the time they got home, Albus seemed a bit tired of talking about Hogwarts, possibly because of his over-eager audience. James, though asked fewer questions, bore it better – he'd had more practice.

"Only seven detentions this year, Lils. I've been good," he told her, winking.

"James," complained his mother from the front, "are you corrupting your sister again?"

"No..."

-

Lily was burning with curiosity. The entire holidays, Al would tell anecdotes from school, and he would mention Rose and Scorpius. Scorpius intrigued her, ever since the first of September. Was he OK? What was he like? The idea of him, the son of, dare she say it, a rival family. The first Malfoy to – possibly ever – become a Gryffindor. She was glad her brother had made friends with him, although he was not very forthcoming with details. She had resolved to ask Rose the next time she saw her.

* * *

"_Come on, Scorpius!"_

"_Look, I'm not sure about this," Scorpius replied, uneasily._

"_But they've made the last six weeks of you life utter hell! And, by extension, they've not made my life all that great either."_

"_I know, but..."_

"_But what?"_

_Scorpius looked at his... yes, his friend – he'd proven himself several times since they met on the train on September first. Rose, too, looked surprisingly eager for vengeance, as the last prank pulled on them had resulted in many of her favourite books being stained with permanent ink (an incident the week before had soaked her homework, making the previous ink run, which is why she switched to this type. She was beginning to feel like people were out to get _her_ rather than Scorpius)._

_Things had not improved since that first day although, despite Rose's paranoia, pranks and insults were still being aimed at Scorpius. Others just got caught in the crossfire._

_Scorpius knew that he'd give in to his friends eventually. He also knew that the Slytherins would suspect him, and that if his father ever found out he'd be furious._

_He took all this into consideration, but it was the sight of Rose reluctantly pulling out fresh parchment to rewrite her essays that decided it for him. There really was no other choice to make._

"_OK," he said. "I'm in."_

_After a number of suggestions, each more ridiculous than the last - "Let's set a Hippogriff on them!" "How about we explode their cauldrons!" - they decided on an admittedly cruel, but overall harmless, punishment for their tormentors._

_The Ravenclaw-Slytherin match was on the next day – the first match of the year. They obviously couldn't interfere with any players, but no one wanted to miss it. But insert several Fainting Fancies into the the cereal bowls in front of some particularly obnoxious Slytherin first years..._

_The results were rather hilarious, seeing their new-found enemies dropping their heads onto the table – and watching as no one noticed! Everyone was rushing to get to the match, not caring about lazy first years._

_They had woken up by the time the match was over, devastated that they had missed it. But the best part was when Pucey, after waking up, wandered into the entrance hall and threw up - "Oops," said Al, grinning. "Must have put in a Puking Pastille as well. By accident" - on a sixth year Slytherin's shoes. And he was a beater, who had just lost a match._

_Pucey knew it was them. He had made himself clear the next day - "You will regret that. This will not be a war we lose. Oh, and Malfoy? You won't be allowed switch sides this time, we wouldn't want scum like you any more than than the ministry did..."_

It was incredibly hard to concentrate on school work when you were at war, but it's not like they could use that excuse on the teachers. On the other hand, it was an added incentive to learn to recognise and make potions, as well as various handy charms and hexes. Transfiguration, however, would have suffered greatly – not having a great deal of use offensively – if it weren't for Rose. She had been oddly supportive of their vendetta – Al suspected it was her father's influence more than her mother's – even assisting with distracting the Slytherins, so that the Fainting Fancies (plus a Pastille) could be administered. But she drew the line at neglecting Transfiguration ("It's a vital subject!").

Albus felt a rather desperate need by the time Christmas rolled around to pay a visit to his Uncle George, and his fine establishment. He needed more ammunition.

* * *

"Hello, Father."

"Ah, Scorpius," said Draco, as his wife and child arrived home. "How was your first term?"

"Fine," answered Scorpius nervously.

"And... settling in all right?" asked Draco, seeming a bit... hesitant. If Scorpius had been more observant, he might have noticed the way his father glanced rather uneasily at his mother, and her piercing stare.

"Yes, Father." He was bracing himself for a mention of the house he had been sorted into, or his choice of company. But none was forthcoming.

"Oh, good," said Draco, glancing once more at Astoria, who nodded approvingly behind Scorpius' back. "Well, why don't you go have a rest? The House Elves tell me that dinner shall be ready shortly."

That was just weird, Scorpius thought, as he went upstairs. He had expected his father to shout or, worse, sigh disappointedly and talk over his head to Astoria about his failings. But he hadn't. He'd just seemed... awkward. His father rarely seemed awkward.

"_What's wrong with Father?" he asked Astoria, as she changed him into his pyjamas. He had seen him storm into the house looking incredibly ill at ease, frazzled almost. His father never seemed anything other than all-knowing and calm. He had headed straight for his study, and slammed the door._

"_Nothing, sweetie," she said, handing him his new teddy bear, the one he'd received for his sixth birthday, three weeks ago._

"_What?" asked Scorpius insistently._

"_He just... had a hard day at the Ministry, that's all."_

"_Why?"_

"_People, making implications, dragging up old dirt on your father..." she muttered. "Now go to sleep."_

_

* * *

  
_

Lily was a Potter by name, but her red hair showed that she was part of a larger Weasley family. The Potters were Weasleys, and always would be Weasleys. And Weasley Christmases were insane.

Her mother had told her about their Christmases when she was growing up and how, busy though they were, they were nothing like this.

The main problem was that the previous generation, bonded by family and grief and war and loss, were all extremely close, and always spent Christmas together. And that didn't change when almost every single one of them had children.

Between thirteen cousins, grandparents, Teddy Lupin and Andromeda Tonks, six uncles, their five wives and one or two old friends of the family, it really was impossible to even hear yourself _think_.

Lily and her family dropped into the Burrow almost constantly, and at least half of the above would always be there, usually more. Neville Longbottom – who, in less than two years, she would have to start calling Professor – dropped by occasionally with his wife, Hannah. Luna, Lily's own Godmother, came over several times with her sons, Lorcan and Lysander.

They were nice boys, if somewhat... unusual.

"Hi, Lorcan," she said, as they approached her on Christmas Eve. "Hi, Lysander."

"Hello," they both said simultaneously, but slightly out of sync. They usually stopped doing this after a while of conversation, but it was a little... creepy for the first few minutes.

"Having a nice Christmas?"

"Yes, it was lovely," they said, serenely. Lorcan added, somewhat more lively, "We were given some cake. It was lemon."

Lily had always found Lorcan a bit more down-to-Earth (which wasn't saying a lot, considering the one he was being compared to), and therefore easier to talk to. They were both rather tall and thin for their age, which was a few months younger than Lily. They looked very similar, except for their hair. Lysander's was brown, like his father's, while Lorcan had his mother's blond hair. Lily had always found it odd that, of the two, Lorcan was the one who looked most like Luna, yet was much more like his father in personality (than his brother, anyway. They were both a bit Luna-ish).

Lily's Aunt Fleur had arrived a while ago to help with the food preparations for the following day. Between Lily's mother and grandmother, dinner was pretty much covered but Fleur always insisted on helping, much to Gran's chagrin. It wasn't that Fleur couldn't cook, but that she seemed unable to stop herself from commenting on 'English' food, and lecturing on how the food could be improved if they'd only just... It usually didn't end well, as Ginny began to look irritated rather quickly. Harry had told her that Ginny used to dislike Fleur, but they got on well enough now. War brought them closer, as did loss. But old issues resurfaced on occasions such as this. Aunt Hermione also came on Christmas Eve to offer her services, but was always politely refused. Only so many imperious women should be in a kitchen at a time, and they were already over their limit.

Percy's wife, Audrey, had once been asked to help. She had declined on the grounds that it was sexist to expect women to do all the cooking. When someone pointed out that Harry spent more time than his wife in the kitchen, Audrey feigned deafness and changed the subject.

Dominique, Victoire and Louis had arrived a short time ago. Louis had quickly escaped to James' side, and it was clear why. Dominique and Victoire were arguing viciously in rapid French, and no one really knew what they were fighting about except some of the grown-ups. Lily was positive she heard the word 'ridicule', which took little translation, but other than Teddy's name occasionally popping up, she had no idea what was wrong. It was just what they did.

"Teddy!" squealed Lily as he arrived, rushing towards him after an quick apology to the Scamander twins.

"Hey, Lily," Teddy replied, cheerfully, while eyeing the girls arguing in French. "At it again, are they?"

"Yup. Any idea what they're saying?"

"Not a clue, Lils," he answered, and grinned. "Maybe they're upset 'cause I tried to take Dom's nose." He tweaked Lily's nose playfully, and then stuck his thumb between his middle and index fingers, as though he had his nose in her hand. This trick was great for fooling two year olds.

"Teddy!" she giggled in protest. "Give it back!"

They had always played this game, for years after she had worked it out.

"Well, all right," he agreed with mock reluctance. "Here you go."

"Hi, Lily! Hi, Teddy," said Rose, wandering in from the garden with Hugo. They had just arrived at the Burrow, yet Ron was already making a bee-line for the kitchen.

"Hello, Rose, Hugo," greeted Teddy. "You've both grown a lot since I last saw you." His smile widened suddenly, and he reached out and took Rose's "nose". "Got your nose!"

Rose rolled her eyes. "No you don't, Teddy. I worked out how you did that _years_ ago."

Teddy nodded gravely. "Of course you did. You're a very clever girl, Rosie." She preened slightly. "So I suppose you also worked out that I was asked to distract you."

Rose frowned. "What?"

She didn't have a chance to say anything more before she was tackled from behind by Fred and James and launched onto the couch, where they proceeded to tickle her.

"Hey, Rosie, haven't seen you in ages," said James conversationally, as she writhed and squealed in protest.

"You.... saw... me.... YESTERDAY!!!" she gasped.

"Really?" said Fred, in mock surprise. "Feels like longer. We just missed that laugh of yours _so_ much..."

"That was mean," Lily admonished Teddy. He apologised to her in between his laughs.

She shook her head at him in disappointment and sighed before leaping onto James' back. He yelled in surprise. Al, across the room, turned in shock and rushed over to (possibly) break up his siblings. Before he could do anything, however, Lily fell off James' back and grabbed Albus' collar on her way past to slow her fall. It didn't work, and he fell on top of her.

Hugo soon jumped into the fray, to help either his sister or her tormentor – either way, he wasn't successful. Rose's flailing legs knocked him onto the pile consisting of Lily, James and Albus. Fred soon joined Hugo and Rose, free at last, jumped in to exact her revenge.

Teddy, possibly worried at how fast this was escalating, tried to break up the fight, but they ended up fighting _on _him.

Victoire and Dominique stopped arguing to survey the commotion, and both of them seemed to find Teddy's predicament hilarious. They were less amused when they were both swallowed up by the expanding mass of children (and Teddy).

Louis joined reluctantly when James yelled at him to help, but when Roxanne, George Weasley's daughter, entered the room her only comment was "Ooh! A fight!" before diving in.

The scuffle had, by now, attracted the attention of all the adults in the room, and as it got louder more entered. Hermione looked horrified by this development, while Molly Weasley (the elder) looked surprised, but faintly amused. Ron was laughing and Harry was suppressing a smile while trying to decide whether or not to intervene. Percy and his daughter, Molly (the younger), looked disapproving. His daughter Lucy, however, looked shocked yet oddly... longing, and kept glancing nervously at her sister.

"Molly!! Help me out here!" shrieked Dominique, furiously, causing the prefect to hesitantly move forward. Lucy seemed to take this as approval and rushed into the fight to help Lily with James, to her father's horror.

Soon, when everyone had exhausted themselves and several of them were laughing the parents came in to separate them.

"Brings back memories, doesn't it?" commented George to his mother on the sidelines.

Her face relaxed into a full, but slightly wistful smile. "It does," she agreed. "And I'm rather fonder of it now that I don't have to sort it all out."

"Yeah," said George. "We'll leave that to the Harrys and Hermiones of the world, eh, Ron?"

His brother nodded in agreement, earning himself a glare from his wife. He shrugged, hopelessly.

Things like this happened every year, but it was becoming more hectic all the time because of the growing size of all the participants.

Dominique sulked for most of the day after that.

"C'mon, Dom," said Teddy, trying to cheer her up. "Remember when it was just you, me and Victoire doing that? Before James and Fred were big enough."

She glared at him. "Yeah, I do remember that. I didn't like it _then_ either."

"I remember it differently," remarked Victoire slyly.

"Well, I didn't!" snapped Dominique. "And seriously, Teddy, I find it ridiculous that you _still_ start these things! You're so damn childish!"

He shrugged. "It's _traditional_."

Lily was sitting on the couch in the sitting room, exhausted. She didn't bother to move when her cousin Roxanne sat down next to her.

"Hey, Lily," she said.

"Hi, Roxanne," she replied without much enthusiasm. Roxanne and Lily had never got on very well, yet had always been expected to play together at family gatherings, though Lily preferred Rose. They would be going to Hogwarts together, after all. But Roxanne was rather more... tough than Lily.

"How did you find your first while without your brothers to weigh you down?" asked Roxanne.

"Boring. There was nothing to do, and I missed them," said Lily, sadly.

Roxanne snorted. "Right. There's loads to do! You're such a softy..."

"Thanks, Roxy. Really."

"No problem," she said cheerfully.

"It's easy for you to say," said Lily, annoyed. "You live in Diagon Alley! _Of course_ there's loads to do there!"

"What, does _no one_ live here?" Roxy mocked.

"No! But there's no one to really talk to! There are some muggles my age down the road, but... Look, they're nice, but I always have to be careful about what I say!"

"Right, fine," said Roxy, sighing. "I still think you could find your own entertainment. Tell you what, how about we go outside for a while and hunt down something to do?"

"What, by ourselves?"

"No, we'll bring our mummies," said Roxy, rolling her eyes. "Yeah by ourselves! It's broad daylight!"

"Not really, it'll be dark in half an hour!"

"Right, fine! Never mind."

They sat in petulant silence for a while before Lily broke it.

"So," she said, causing Roxanne to glance balefully at her. "Any news?"

"Not really."

"Oh, OK."

. . .

"I did hear, however," Roxanne said, after another long pause, "that your brother had a rather interesting year..." She trailed off slightly towards the end, glancing at Lily.

"Yeah?" said Lily, nonchalant – or as much as a ten year old can be.

"Yes!" said Roxanne insistently, turning towards her. "I heard that he was friends with _Scorpius Malfoy_!"

"Wait, you know who Scorpius Malfoy is?" asked Lily, surprised.

"Everyone knows the Malfoys!" said Roxy.

"Everyone?" Was she the only one who hadn't heard of them?

"Well, yeah! Draco Malfoy got my father banned from Quidditch once!" Roxanne sniffed disparagingly. "Thought _everyone_ knew that!" Lily wondered if Roxanne even knew about the whole 'evil follower of Voldemort' thing, or if it was only second to a Quidditch ban in Roxy's book.

"Right," said Lily. "Well, my brother says that Scorpius is really nice!" She had decided not to mention their encounter to her cousin.

"Really?" said Roxanne. "I doubt that."

"You doubt that he is, or that my brother said so?" asked Lily, eyes narrowing.

"Never mind, Lily." Roxanne rolled her eyes and then changed the subject. "Have you made up ridiculous stories yet about Ted and Victoire?"

"My stories aren't ridiculous," Lily protested, her face heating up. "And Al did say that Scorpius was nice! Come on!"

She dragged a complaining Roxanne across the room to where Rose stood in front of a mirror, trying desperately to tame her red curls that the rough playing had made insane. She practically had an afro at this point.

"Hey, Rosie," Lily said, and Roxanne echoed the greeting, somewhat less enthusiastically. "I wanted to ask you about Scorpius Malfoy."

"What about him?" Rose asked, frowning at her own reflection.

"What's he like?" Lily persisted.

"Nice," she said. "A little quiet and nervous, but a nice boy. And sometimes pretty funny."

Roxanne snorted in disbelief, and Lily decided to drag her away before she said something to upset Rose. "OK, thanks, Rose! That was all!"

"Hey!" Roxy complained as they both sat back down on the couch. "I wanted to ask her if -"

"Well, don't," said Lily. "See? Told you he was nice."

"I'll believe it when I see it."

"Right."

Roxy grinned. "So, any weird and ridiculous theories about _this _circulating in that head of yours yet?"

"About what?"

"About Malfoy!"

"What?" Lily was beginning to regret ever sharing any of her stories and romance theories with Roxanne.

"You know..." said Roxanne impatiently. "It's like that muggle play that Rose's mum keeps going on about – Rome and Julie!"

"I think you mean..." Lily paused. What was the name? "Romeo and Juliet, I think..."

"Whatever! But it's like that. A Malfoy and a Weasley, and so on. Seems like your kind of story."

Lily hadn't thought of this. But the more she thought about it, the more romantic it seemed.

"Ooh!" she said. "Do you think so? Rose and Scorpius?"

"No, Lily, I _don't_ think so. I just figured you would."

"But just think about it!" Lily said excitedly, really getting into the idea now. "Rose said she thinks he's a nice boy, and he's so shy and awkward and, well, it's just so _sweet_!"

"Ugh, forget I said anything," said Roxy, looking a bit disgusted now. "You're hopeless, you know that?"

Lily just smiled.

"Right. Anyway, I was wondering if you wanted to come visit a bit during the next few weeks..." Roxy said, looking a bit nervous.

"Oh, why?" asked Lily, surprised.

"Well, it's just that, since James and Al are gone, and so is Fred, and well..." She trailed off, embarrassed.

"I though you said you could find your own entertainment?" Lily challenged.

"I know!" snapped Roxy. "It just might be _easier_ to have fun with a familiar face around."

Lily relented. Roxy acted superior and tough but maybe, Lily thought, she missed her brother too.

"OK," Lily agreed. "And you could come here too, if you wanted."

It was a peace offering, of a kind. They didn't fight much for the rest of the day. It didn't last through Christmas, but it lacked some of the usual irritation. And Lily's over-active imagination had new fuel now.

* * *

A/N: Sorry this took a little while :P But I'm still being much more regular with my updates than I ever have before, so... yeah. I found this chapter hard to write at first, but I like it ^_^ This is mainly to introduce the Weasleys as a family group, not divided by their year at school. How they interact, etc. This part of a two part Christmas section. Next is Scorpius, which probably won't be as long.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter and before it! I love you all ^_^ Particular thanks to N.C. Wolfe for her lovely reviews.

Credit as an excellent Beta goes to Queenie's Broken Heart - she rocks!

NEXT CHAPTER: **Banish Shade**

Please tell me what you thought of this in a review, praise or criticism - I'd like to know so I can improve ^_^


	6. Banish Shade

**Banish Shade**

It's Christmas time

There's no need to be afraid

At Christmas time

We let in light and we banish shade

_Bob Geldof, 'Do They Know It's Christmas'_

_-_

Scorpius had always hated the silences caused by his grandparent's visits. Christmas was usually a time when hostilities faded somewhat, and his grandfather was more benevolent. Not this year. And Scorpius rather missed the silences, now.

"How did this happen, Draco?" Lucius yelled, furiously. "The Malfoys have all been in Slytherin for the past eight generations! And that's just what we have record of! And your mother's family even longer!"

"Well, Lucius, there was -" Narcissa began, but he waved her off.

"Yes, yes, your mother's cousin," he continued angrily to Draco, dismissing his wife with a wave of his hand. "But _he_, as I recall, ended up disowned and in Azkaban!"

"Father!" said Draco, shocked. "You can't really be comparing Scorpius to-"

"Well? Why not? He's a _Gryffindor_ now, more morals than sense and more stupidity than morals!"

Scorpius was sitting on on of the higher steps of the main staircase, and could hear the voices coming from the parlour. His mother had left to meet some friends (she claimed) when the silence had grown too oppressive. But as soon as she had left _this_ had erupted.

"I know you never had a high opinion of Gryffindors, Father," Scorpius could hear Draco saying, wearily. "Neither did I, to be honest. But, Gryffindor or not, Scorpius is a Malfoy and -"

"And what?" Lucius sneered. "He may be a Malfoy by name, but if he didn't look the spitting image of you, I'd doubt his legacy!"

"What are you implying?" Draco asked, coldly.

"Though he may be a Malfoy, he doesn't act like it. It happens, Draco. Not often, but sometimes a family will produce someone... different. Sometimes it's a squib, and though they don't like to admit it, it happens to the best of families."

"Scorpius is not a squib."

"No, but he's not like this family, either. Too much of his mother in him, I think."

"Lucius!" Narcissa reprimanded.

"And what," asked Draco, "is _that_ supposed to mean?"

"You know exactly what it means. I warned you when you began courting her, but you -"

"Lucius!" Narcissa snapped. "We are not discussing this again! It's lain to rest for 12 years – let it be."

"How can I let it be, when she's letting our grandson become -"

"Become _what_?"

"You've seen it yourself! He wanders around, never speaking, never playing, never doing anything except reading his blasted books. It's no wonder other children make fun of him."

"He talks!"

"He never talks to us!"

"You scare him, that's why! And I'll admit he never speaks to me a lot, and I wish he'd be a bit more assertive. But I've seen him laugh, and play. And you know very well why others make fun of him, and it has nothing to do with him being quiet."

Scorpius heard a "hah" from Lucius. "If he didn't let people walk all over -"

"- they would still hold our past against him," Draco finished firmly.

"Our reputation survived once, Draco. There were those prejudiced against you from the start, but you still held your head high!"

"I know," said Draco. "I know that. But it's worse, now. And if Scorpius even, well, does anything to retaliate they'll say that it's because he's practically a Death Eater!"

There was silence for a while, then Lucius spoke, his voice calmer.

"I know that our position is unpopular at the moment, but give it time, Draco. Eventually people will return to conclusions we made long ago about the natural order of things. Our time will come again."

"_Our_ time? Ours? No, Father, not our time. It's over."

"Have you so little faith in our cause, Draco?"

"I believed in it once. And I still... But no, it's over, and it's not coming back. The last time we joined such a cause, you were imprisoned, tortured, our home was invaded and I was forced into a murder plot at sixteen!"

"I know this, Draco! You think I don't? We were wrong to operate outside the law. Working as vigilantes is not the solution, and I'm sorry for what this family suffered, but -"

"But it's not even over!" Draco's voice was rising, and aggravation was making it higher pitched. "Even now, your _grandson_, the one you consider not good enough, is having to face the tarnished reputation of this family! And it's not just rumours and whispers this time, Father. People shout abuse in the streets; at Scorpius, a little boy. They act like he's the spawn of the very devil himself. Yes, he's too timid – but maybe he's had reason!"

Scorpius started in surprise from his place outside the room. He had never heard his father defend him like this. Did this mean his father didn't blame Scorpius?

"Draco, calm down," said Narcissa, sounding alarmed. "And you shouldn't speak to your father like that."

"I am a grown man, Mother," said Draco, angrily. "And I think Astoria was right – you are too hard on my son."

"But, Draco," said Lucius, almost despairing. "Gryffindor?"

"I know. But maybe it will earn him acceptance."

"Gryffindors always make up their minds quickly, and will not change them."

"Yes, but perhaps the same could be said of Slytherin."

"Hmph."

The argument ended abruptly when the front door closed loudly, signifying Astoria's arrival home.

"Why are you sitting on the stairs, darling?" she asked Scorpius. Her eyes flickered towards the suspiciously quiet parlour and back to him.

"I was just waiting for you," he lied unconvincingly, and, though she looked incredibly skeptical, they said no more about it.

-

He tried to talk to his father later. He would not have admitted to listening to the argument, but he wanted to show some level of gratitude for his father's defence of him. But Draco did not take kindly to his son's interruption while he was 'working' with a large brandy in front of him. Scorpius quickly fled, hopes of a new relationship with his father abolished once more.

* * *

The letter arrived three days after Christmas. Scorpius' grandparents were lingering, and they and his parents looked up when the owl landed on the dining room table at breakfast.

"Really, Astoria, dear," said Narcissa, exasperated, as the owl, a large brown one, knocked over her tea cup on its way past. "You must train your owls properly. They should arrive in the Owlery, not the dining room!"

"Thank you, Narcissa," said Astoria, dryly. "But it is not one of ours."

"Well what acquaintance of yours -" began Lucius, but then stopped, smirking nastily. "Oh, of course. It is probably from your sister and her... husband."

"No, it is not," she answered angrily. "My sister had the same upbringing as I did, when our status was equal to yours. Do not make vulgar assumptions."

As Lucius and Astoria exchanged more and more transparent insults – with Narcissa and Draco exchanging nervous glances, and occasionally attempting to intervene – the owl was forgotten, except to Scorpius, who had begun to realise, with some horror, that he recognised it. He had seen it arrive every day at Hogwarts to bring the newspaper to Albus Potter. Oh no...

Scorpius, for the first time ever, spoke up in front of his grandparents of his own volition.

"Um, excuse me?" he said, tremulously. He was mostly ignored, or not heard. He tried again, louder. "Excuse me!"

Astoria, hearing him, shot him a confused glance, interrupting her argument. Lucius, noticing her sudden change of focus, also turned.

"Um, I think the owl mightbeforme," he mumbled quickly, quailing under the attention.

"What did he say?" Lucius demanded of Draco, who shrugged. Scorpius noticed that they were, as usual, talking over his head. It hadn't really bothered him before.

"I said I think the letter is for me," he said, clearer this time, before Astoria could move in to speak for him.

His mother was looking at him as though he'd sprouted a third arm, and his father looked confused.

"Your letter," Draco repeated uncertainly. He reached for the owl's leg to untie the letter.

"Yes," said Scorpius, his courage draining away. "May I, um, have it? Please?"

"Yes, of course," said Astoria, recovering from her shock. She twitched the letter out of Draco's unprepared hands and gave it to Scorpius.

"Thank you," he said quickly, before attempting to retreat from the room.

"Wait, Scorpius," said Draco. "Who sent you a letter?"

"Um..." Scorpius looked nervously at his father, and glanced at his mother. "It's from Albus Potter – he's in my house at school and -"

"Wait, what?" exclaimed Lucius furiously, and Draco looked shocked. Astoria gave her son a sympathetic look and shooed him quickly out the door. As he ran up to his room, he could hear raised voices from below. He was torn between wanting to read his letter and wanting to know what the adults were saying. He hid the letter under his mattress and collected some Extendible Ears that Al had given him during the previous term. He rushed back down the stairs halfway, and let the string of the Ears crawl under the dining room door.

"- like he's doing this on purpose! Does he realise that Harry Potter landed me in prison? Ruined all our ambitions? Ruined this family?"

"Yes, he knows that! But he also knows that Potter was one of the only people who spoke in my defence at _my_ trial!"

"Are you defending -!"

"No! You know I hate Potter, you know that. I always have. And he hates me possibly even more. But he has helped this family just as much as he has condemned it! He saved me twice during the battle at Hogwarts nineteen years ago and -"

"He destroyed the Dark Lord!"

"Come now, Father! The Dark Lord was on the rise before Potter, but we were falling already! The Dark Lord would have killed us before long."

"Lucius," said Narcissa, soothingly, "whatever else Potter may be, he is popular with public opinion, and is one of the few who will not hold this family's old allegiances against Scorpius."

"I don't think Potter is as saintly as you seem to believe, Cissy. Why would his son go anywhere near Scorpius? What has he to gain?"

"You know," said Astoria dryly. "I wouldn't completely discount the theory that Albus Potter actually likes Scorpius."

"You are naïve, Astoria, if you think that. How you ever became a Slytherin is beyond me," said Lucius scathingly.

"Fine. Fine!" she answered. "You want Slytherin thinking? Think of the political advantage, then, of Scorpius befriending Albus Potter. Harry Potter is considered a saviour, practically a god by every wizard and witch in England, possibly beyond. Harry Potter has spoken up for us before, where he condemned other Death Eaters. As well as the political advantage of Scorpius having me as a mother – and you know the public approve of most of my family, if not me – he now has young Potter as his friend and ally. Assuming that there is no hidden agenda of Potter's, then this is extremely advantageous for our family. We should not oppose it."

There was silence for a moment, before Narcissa spoke. "She's right, Lucius. You know she is."

"So for political gain, we are supposed to dance along to Potter's every whim? Is that what you are saying, Astoria? Have you no pride?" Lucius said quietly, his voice venomous.

"Don't give me that, Lucius," Astoria scoffed. "Now who's being naïve? This family will not survive if we stick to old and archaic ideals. We follow the strong, and will continue to do so until we are strong ourselves. Even then, Potter is not the worst person to follow. He will not turn on us."

"Archaic ideals, are they? Outdated, you think? Then why did they survive so long, if they have no grounding in fact?" Lucius' voice was rising again.

"I think you like having someone to feel superior to," she snapped back.

"Really? Just me? When did you last speak to your sister, then? Not holding a grudge, are you?"

"Stop it, Lucius," said Draco sharply. His wife had turned bright red with fury. "I don't think we should discuss this any more. We lose nothing if Potter proves disloyal, and we have everything to gain."

Scorpius withdrew to his room after that.

He didn't like what his mother had said, about his friendship with Albus. _Political gain_. It made it sound so cold, calculated. It sullied their camaraderie into something less, into Scorpius using Al to gain popularity. It wasn't like that – was it? He genuinely liked Al and Rose, and it wasn't like it earned him that much more acceptance.

Then there was the other question: why did Albus associate with him? There was definitely no political gain in it, and they had probably gone past pity at this stage. Could Al and Rose just like his company, or was he being naïve?

No, he couldn't believe his friends were false. He wouldn't.

He took the letter from under his mattress and opened it.

_Scorpius,_

_ Hell, your name looks even funnier on paper. Sorry, but it does._

_How's your Christmas going? Must be weird being an only child – do you have any relatives coming over? Cousins, maybe? Just wanted to say Happy Christmas anyway, and Rose says 'hi'._

_It's really crazy here. That's the thing about having a really big family – we have more than twenty people crowded into the Burrow (my grandparents' house) and most of them are bigger than me._

_My sister, Lily – she's ten, coming to Hogwarts in two years – has been asking all about school, and seems really curious about you. I think she and Roxanne (my cousin) are planning something, because they didn't used to talk to each other so much. If you ever meet them, watch your back. Lily's pretty nefarious, and Roxanne is pure evil sometimes._

_Can't wait to see you after the hols, but can't say I'm dying to go back to school. James, Fred, Rose and Victoire (I know you haven't properly met her, but she's just like that) also said to tell you 'Happy Christmas' from them. Oh, and my mum'll kill me if I don't include her. And she says to include dad, too. You've a lot of well-wishers this Christmas... Me and Rose got you a present, but we decided to give it to you when we got back – you don't want your parents seeing this! I'll give you a hint: I managed to get a lot of stuff thanks to a family discount!_

_See you at school!_

_ Al_

Scorpius smiled, and quickly penned a reply.

_Al,_

_ Your name looks oddly short on paper... maybe I should use Albus instead? No, that looks exactly as ridiculous on paper as it sounds._

_My Christmas was the same as usual: my father's parents coming over and judging me unsuitable to be a Malfoy, judging my mother for her sister's perceived faults and judging my father for not making us both better. No cousins, I'm afraid. My only aunt isn't speaking with my mother. My family is surprisingly complicated for one so small. On the other hand, I was given a new broomstick. It's marginally faster than the one I got last year._

_I'd love to hear about what's going on at the... Burrow? Yes, Burrow, you wrote. Interesting name for a house, but kind of nice. Your Christmas sounds much better. How's Rose? And what is this mysterious present, I wonder? It's not like your hint was obvious, or anything._

_Please wish... surprisingly long list of names, actually: Fred, James, Rose, Victoire, your mother, your father and your sister a Happy Christmas from me. Victoire is the seventh year girl, right? Your oldest cousin?_

_Your descriptions of Lily and Roxanne leave me quaking, I assure you. They're probably more evil than all the Slytherins combined._

_See you soon,_

_ Scorpius_

Lily... Scorpius could recall a little girl with dark red hair in a messy mane about her head. Big brown eyes, a comforting tone. Telling him his name was ridiculous. He smiled. It sounded as though she remembered him, too – and had found out who he was. Maybe she would ignore his family's past, like her brother. Or was planning revenge for his lie by omission. Either way, she would be interesting to meet again.

For some reason she hadn't told Al that they had already met. Why? Was she embarrassed on his behalf? Or was she simply respecting his privacy? He was glad that his friends didn't know he had been crying. Not the most 'Gryffindor' of activities.

He found it odd that so many Weasleys and Potters were wishing him well, considering the things that his family thought of them – things which he had just heard reiterated very loudly in the dining room. He hadn't actually properly spoken to Victoire, but he knew that her sister, Dominique, _hated_ him. She was always scowling at him when he sat anywhere near her cousins, and he had once or twice even been shoved by her in the corridors on his way to class. But once when this had happened Al had yelled after her, and Victoire, who had been passing by in the opposite direction, had come over and argued with her furiously in French. After Dominique had left, Victoire had turned to Al and said "If this happens again, let me know" before smiling at Scorpius and leaving.

Louis, on the other hand, took neither option. He often sat near Scorpius to talk to Fred and James, but just ignored him. Scorpius wasn't sure if this was out of dislike or self-preservation. He was sure to earn the wrath of one of his sisters if he picked a side, so he ignored the entire situation, which was presumably his tried and tested method of avoiding confrontation with his domineering older sisters.

As for being wished well by Ginny Potter and, by extension, Harry Potter... that was a little scary. It meant that they were most certainly aware of his friendship with their sons. Their Christmas greetings could be considered an act of good will, or just out of politeness.

He was over-analysing this, he was sure.

He went up to the Owlery to post his letter, and found his mother up there already, leaning on the windowsill and staring listlessly upwards. She turned and smiled at him when he entered.

"What are you doing up here?" he asked, moving to one of their owls and attaching the letter to its leg.

"I was waiting for you," she answered. "I wanted to talk."

"Um... about what?" he asked nervously.

"Don't worry, I'm not angry about anything," she laughed. "But I just wanted to let you know that I'm fine with you being friends with Albus Potter."

"Because of political gain?" It slipped out, bitterly, before he could stop it.

She paused. "Ye-es, there is that," she said, cautiously. "But that's not the only reason. I'm glad you have friends, and from what I can tell, Potters make loyal companions."

"OK," he said, quietly, and went over to the window to send the owl on its way.

She studied him for a moment. "Are you happy at Hogwarts, Scorpius?"

"Yes," he said, smiling slightly. "I have friends, and it's fun sometimes. My classes aren't too hard, though Al says it's because I study too much."

"And are you... bullied a great deal?" she asked nervously.

"Yes, a bit. But Al helps me out when he can, and Rose – that's Rose Weasley – she helps too, sometimes."

"Oh, good," said Astoria. "You seem to have found a family to protect you better than we can." Scorpius failed to notice the wistful and slightly resentful note in her voice.

He just shrugged. "How long have you been waiting for me here?"

"A while," she said, and smiled. "I'll admit that I was also trying to escape your grandfather. That man is just so..."

"Terrifying," said Scorpius.

"Really? I just find him a nuisance. Well, no. I've been afraid of him before, because of his past. But he would never harm you, Scorpius. Whatever he says, I'm sure that he loves you, and he'd never hurt his grandson anyway. You're his only heir, after all." She looked down at Scorpius oddly. "Actually, I was rather impressed, earlier. You spoke up in front of him." She nudged him playfully. "Maybe Gryffindor house is rubbing off on you."

* * *

**A/N:** Sorry, this took a little longer than I thought. Hope you liked it though! Thanks to everyone who reviewed; keep it up! And thank you to the amazing Queenie's Broken Heart for beta-ing this, despite her busy schedule. She's the best!

Please review, as it'll earn you my eternal love and gratitude :D


	7. Heed the Call

**Heed the Call**

Come senators, congressmen, please heed the call

Don't stand in the doorway, don't block up the hall

For he that gets hurt will be he who has stalled

There's a battle outside, it's ragin'

And it'll soon shake you windows and rattle your walls

For the times they are a-changin'

_Bob Dylan, 'The Times They Are A-Changin''_

_______ Four months after Christmas_

"Look, there he is. Oi! Neville! Over here!"

Neville Longbottom had just entered the Leaky Cauldron, and made his way over to where Harry Potter and Ron Weasley were sitting.

"Sorry I'm late," he said, hanging his dripping wet cloak on the back of an empty chair and sitting down. "There was a... problem up at the school. Hannah will be furious I'm late."

Sure enough, as they spoke a small, slightly plump woman with blond hair pulled into a plait bore down on them.

"Neville Longbottom," she said angrily. "_You_ are _late_."

"I know, Hannah," he said apologetically, "but some of the kids managed to smuggle in some Weasley products – a lot of them, actually – and targeted the Slytherin common room and -"

She _thwacked_ him over the head with the newspaper in her hand. "Don't do it _again_," she said waspishly, and moved back behind the bar at the other end of the room. "Anything I can get you?" she added kindly to a customer.

Ron shook his head sadly. "She used to be such a quiet, kind girl."

"She still is," laughed Neville. "She just doesn't like it if I'm late. I think it's just an instinct left over from... you know. She knows it's safe now, she just panics a bit."

"Better you than me, mate," said Ron.

"What was this about the Slytherin common room?" asked Harry, interested. "Nothing too serious, I hope?"

Neville sighed. "No, nothing too bad. A lot of Dungbombs, a portable swamp or two, insulting fireworks. Nothing dangerous, just highly inflammatory to the Gryffindor-Slytherin situation."

"Is it getting worse, yeah?"

"It's been pretty bad ever since the war. No one trusts the Slytherins, and the Slytherins trust no one. I thought the first few years would be the worst, and they were pretty bad. Things calmed down for a while after, though. But lately..." He sighed again. "Ever since Scorpius Malfoy arrived, actually, there's been a lot more friction."

"Why? Does he cause trouble?" asked Ron, almost hopefully.

"No, nothing like that. His family name just ignites a lot of hatred – from all the houses. To be honest, I worry about him. If it wasn't for Al and Rosie..."

"Does he get bullied a lot?" Ron asked, chastised.

Neville hesitated. "Normally I wouldn't be allowed say..." he said, but at his companions frowns he added, hurriedly, "but as your children are indirectly involved, as his friends, it's best you hear about it from me. There have been no complaints of bullying from Scorpius himself, and I've not seen too much of it, but Rose came to me a few weeks after term began saying that there had been some problems..."

"What kind of problems?"

"A shove in the corridor, throwing things, childish pranks. On their own, not too bad, but continuously? It could be harmful to a child psychologically."

"And did you put a stop to it?" Harry asked.

"What could I do?" said Neville, desperately. "I tried to get the culprits names out of her, but she wouldn't say – apparently Al had sworn her to secrecy. I have an idea, but..."

"Who?" Ron growled.

"I think it's Pucey and his crowd. You remember his father? He was the Slytherin Seeker in our first year."

"Was he a Death Eater?"

"Not officially. I think he got some time in Azkaban for aiding Voldemort's regime and for crimes against muggles. He was a supporter though, just not one to take action himself."

"Well if you think it's the Pucey boy then why not do something?"

"I've tried getting them detention for some other things, but without proof, Professor Sinistra won't let me punish her Slytherins."

"Professor Sinistra? Wasn't she the Astronomy teacher?" asked Harry, surprised.

Neville nodded. "She's getting on in years now, but she still teaches. Didn't know she was a Slytherin until she volunteered to be their Head of House fifteen years ago. She fought on our side during the battle of Hogwarts."

"But if she's on our side, then why doesn't she want to punish - ?" Ron began.

"She thinks it's prejudice about her house," Neville sighed. "She hates anti-muggle values, but she's fiercely protective of her Slytherins. She claims that punishing them based on assumptions of their personality will only alienate the pureblood families faster, causing further rifts in the years to come." He rubbed his eyes wearily. "And, quite honestly, I can see her point."

Harry and Ron nodded their grudging understanding.

"I suppose you're right," Harry conceded. "Just... keep an eye on them, won't you?"

"Of course." Neville smiled.

"So," said Ron authoritatively, reverting back to the original topic, "you don't think Scorpius is like the rest of his family?"

Slowly, Neville shook his head. "No, from what I can tell he's not like them at all. Ridiculously quiet, actually." Neville smiled ruefully. "I don't think he likes me, though."

"Oh? Why not?"

"It's silly, really," said Neville, embarrassed. "I guess I just... the first few classes I had with the boy I..."

"What?"

"Well, you know the way Snape always treated you, Harry? Because he thought of you as your father?"

Harry groaned. "You didn't."

"I'm afraid so. Not as bad, I hope, but... Look, I'm sorry! But it was like looking into a Pensieve and seeing Draco as a child again, the little bully who tormented me. I kept looking up into that same pointy, ferret-like face, except with pale blue eyes – which are honestly really startling when he's upset. I don't think he was happy with me. I tried to make amends afterwards, but he doesn't trust me at all."

"What made you stop looking at him like a little Draco?" Harry asked.

"First of all it was the realisation that I was being like my least favourite teacher – a horrifying thought!" The other two laughed, and Neville continued, seriously. "But then I thought of your godfather." Here he looked directly at Harry.

"Sirius?" asked Harry, astonished. "Why?"

Neville smiled. "Old, Pureblood, Slytherin family. But then the young heir gets sorted into Gryffindor. Does that not sound familiar?"

"Well, now that you mention it..." said Harry ruefully.

Ron still looked sceptical. "Being a Gryffindor 'like Sirius' doesn't automatically make the boy a great and true friend. Look at Wormtail! He was also a Gryffindor!"

Harry frowned at his best friend. "But Ron, think about it! We have no reason to assume he's in any way like Pettigrew. All we _do_ know is that he defied his family to become a Gryffindor. Why compare him to the worst possible case?"

"Well, yeah," said Ron, "but he could be. We don't actually know anything about him other than his family, so if that's what I base a few judgements on..."

"We also know that both Al and Rosie like him," Harry interjected. "And even James and Fred say he's a nice boy."

"From what I can tell," said Neville solemnly, "he's a good friend, and not at all like Pettigrew. He doesn't ask people to protect him, he doesn't even do it himself." Neville smiled. "He inspires people to protect him. For someone with such a despised family name, he's quickly making friends. I'm impressed."

When Hannah came over, they quickly switched to new topics, mostly reminiscences of Hogwarts days, weddings and the antics of children. They spoke of Norberta the Norwegian Ridgeback – "Remember Malfoy's face when McGonagall gave him detention too?" - , Blast-Ended Skrewts - "Monstrosities" – , Duelling Clubs - "Ugh, Lockhart!" - , the DA - "I loved the feeling of rebelling against that cow of a woman" - , the Yule Ball - "Hermione was furious with you after that!" - , Harry's wedding - "Ginny looked beautiful – you looked horribly hung-over. Why did we insist on doing that whole bachelor party thing?"

As the evening progressed, and more Firewhisky was consumed, talk became slower and less distinct, but followed a similar wistful theme of youth.

Remember Defence with Lupin? Remember watching Tonks make funny faces? Constant vigilance! Remember Fred and George leaving the school on broomsticks? Remember... remember?

There was silence for a while, as each man struggled to remain conscious and coherent. Harry lost the battle first, slumping forward sleepily. Hannah had gone to bed hours ago. Ron was mumbling under his breath, but as Neville chuckled wearily over Harry's departure from the land of the conscious, Ron felt compelled to speak once more.

"Saw 'im th'other day, y'know," he slurred.

Neville frowned in bewilderment. "Who?"

"Malfoy! Saw 'im. Dunno wha' he was doin' there, but I reckon," Ron tried to tap his nose knowingly, but missed, "I reckon he was linin' some pocket or other."

Neville nodded enthusiastically, but it made his head hurt and made the room spin. "Mebbe," he said.

"Anyway," Ron continued, "saw 'im. Was walkin' through the fourth floor corridor, dunno why. Tried to avoid me as I walked by, but I said, I said to 'im..." Ron frowned, trying to remember what he had said. "I said... 'How's your boy?' Yes! That's what I asked 'im! An' he just... looked at me, and said 'fine'. Nodded, was on 'is way." Ron pointed an unsteady figure at Neville. "Most... nice intra... intrea.... interactchu... meetin' I ever had wiv a Malfoy, I'll... I'll tell y'that." He waved his finger a few more times for emphasis, almost hitting Neville on the head, before he joined Harry in drunken slumber.

It occurred to Neville, through an alcoholic haze, that he would be the one who needed to look after his friends, but he wasn't entirely sure he was up to that. He might have to wake up Hannah, but he wasn't drunk enough for him to honestly think that was a good idea. Maybe it would be better if he checked to see if Ginny was still up... After all, he wouldn't be the one to get in trouble when she had a husband and brother to berate.

* * *

**A/N**: I might be going a little bit heavy on the Bob Dylan quotes - especially on 'The Times They Are A-Changin''. In my defense, it suits the entire story rather well, and it's an amazing song. And I got my title for the entire story from it, so yeah. :)

Not sure how I feel about this chapter. Been planning to have it there form the start, and it could've been great, but I'm not sure I pulled it off that well. Tell me what you think?

Oh, and I just want to add that I went to an awesome gig last night. Peter Mulvey is my hero - check out his stuff. Now. I got a signed CD! It was amazing *_* -barely refrains from squeeing-

Next chapter soon - sooner the more reviews I get. And no, I'm not a review whore (well, not really...). I just write better with encouragement :D

Review!

**Next chapter**: Lily in Diagon Alley (not the title of the chapter, the description)


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